ESR’s STVG

Sales training has been around for more than 100 years. Yet every year, new approaches appear with the promise of being “The Silver Bullet.” Old approaches—even those that are relevant to fixing the proble—are labeled “old-school,” and rejected.

On Amazon.com there are 29, 469 books under the category of “How to Sell.” In “Sales Techniques” there are 11, 194.

The number of free webinars focused on improving sales capabilities is at an all-time high, and increasing. So are free articles, eBooks and white papers.

Reports, statistics, surveys, research and opinion related to sales ineffectiveness are abound. Here are just a few sources: CSO Insights, Forrester, Sirius Decisions, The Sales Executive Council, Selling Power, Sales and Marketing Management magazine, most of the major sales training companies, and of course, ESR. You can find anything you need to know about the subject among these sources.

There continue to be emerging movements with value propositions focused on sales performance improvement. The latest is Sales 2.0. Add the new online social media to the list.

There is no shortage of associations and groups focused on sales performance: SMT (The Professional Society for Sales & Marketing Training), ASTD’s Sales Training Drivers, UPSA, SAMA (focused on Strategic Account Management, an advanced selling discipline), SMEI, The Sales Management Association, USEF (The University Sales Education Foundation), and a dozen or more groups on LinkedIn.

What’s my point? The root causes of sales ineffectiveness are clear. There is plenty of sound advice about how to fix the problem. There is a proven path. The answers are there for everyone to see. There are companies you can read about and observe that have achieved sales excellence.

So, recession aside, why is sales as a profession and function, losing ground?

I was recently interviewed by Lori Champion from SMT (The Professional Society for Sales & Marketing Training) as part of the ramp-up for their annual conference in Orlando October 14 – 16, 2009. I’ll be keynoting at the event. The topic will be Sales Excellence 2012: Overcoming Tough Obstacles, Achieving Measurable Results.

Lori’s interview begins:

What do a CEO, a Trumpet player, a computer software programmer, a VP of Sales, and an expert in landing “very big contracts” have in common? They describe the background of one man and he is Dave Stein! Let’s add “Opening Key Note Speaker” to the list. He is, after all the Key Note for SMT’s 2009 annual conference in Orlando, Florida this October.

I had the privilege of sitting down and speaking with Dave about a week ago. I wanted to find out more about this very versatile CEO who will be addressing us this fall.

Dave Stein is the CEO and Founder of Massachusetts based ES Research Group, Inc. (ESR) which provides Gartner-style, independent advice about sales training programs, sales performance improvement tools and approaches. It also does evaluations and comparisons of the companies that provide them.

ESR has a unique perspective on sales performance improvement. We don’t deliver sales training or sales consulting. We’re sales training industry observers, analysts, researchers and advisors to our clients on what works in sales effectiveness and training.

Here’s what’s been going on at ESR:

A large client in the financial services sector is working very hard to keep their sales opportunities from coming down to price. That tendency is considerably worse right now than it’s been in previous years. They have superior service, a stellar reputation, a world-class team, enviable financial viability, and other significant customer-focused advantages. But in many situations, it’s a challenge to get the customer to acknowledge the direct link from all those capabilities to measurable business value for them. The client is becoming considerably better a competing, employing advanced selling skills, strategies and tactics for overcoming price disadvantage, when it exists. Even though demand is up, commoditization is the biggest challenge. All in all, a challenging year. I believe they’ll get through this pretty well, with everything considered.

A smaller client is facing other challenges. They are doing well at demand creation. A strong marketing function is serving the sales team well. However, they’re facing the all-too-common 80/20 situation. The 20% of the reps that are bringing in the deals are top quality. The company has to make a move to redeploy the reps who can’t be trained and coached into a higher level of sales productivity. Also, the company is relatively process deficient. They possess a single, high-level Powerpoint slide that represents their selling process, but it is in no way sufficient to drive consistent performance across an entire sales team. The good news is that a strong management team is determined to overcome the challenges they have. We’re working with the CEO who will be driving the transition to a more effective sales capability. They aren’t looking for shortcuts.

One Fortune 500 company is coaching us through creation of a collaborative proposal for ESR to perform an assessment of their global sales approach and capabilities. That will result in an RFP and a vendor evaluation and selection process. They need to transition from the commodity approach they employ now to a more collaborative and consultative relationships with customers. They are seeking a long-term sales training/consulting partner. We are delighted that they are taking a strategic approach to sales effectiveness. They aren’t looking for shortcuts either. Continue reading →

This Blog is Inactive

I will no longer be posting on this URL. Comments will not be moderated. More information.

About Dave

After a career as a sales consultant, trainer, and author, I'm now CEO of
ES Research Group, Inc., which I founded in 2005.

ES Research Group publishes independent evaluations and comparisons of sales training companies and their products and services. (Think Consumer Reports, JD Powers, or Gartner.)

For the past twenty years I've focused my career on the area of sales performance improvement, sales effectiveness and especially sales training. In addition to this blog, I write the Smart Sales column for Sales and Marketing Management magazine.